“In five years I don’t think there’ll be a reason to have a tablet anymore,” said BlackBerry CEO Thorsten Heins while being interviewed at the Milken Institute conference. “Maybe a big screen in your workspace, but not a tablet as such. Tablets themselves are not a good business model.”

Companies like Apple would definitely disagree with the last statement; iPad sales have been growing ever since its introduction in 2010. In addition, the iPad (along with the iPhone) are bringing in the majority of the profits for Apple while its iPod and Mac product lines have played a back seat role.

Microsoft is also betting big on tablets as witnessed by its Surface and Surface Pro tablets (although Microsoft is finding out that breaking into an Apple/Google-dominated market is tough work).

It's pretty easy to see why Heins is pessimistic about tablets due to the abject failure of its 7" PlayBook, but to decry the failure of the entire tablet market seems a bit premature.

So does Thorstein Heins have a magic 8-ball that is accurately predicting the future, or do you think that he is downplaying the importance of the tablet form-factor until BlackBerry can launch a credible entry?

"Microsoft is also betting big on tablets as witnessed by its Surface and Surface Pro tablets (although Microsoft is finding out that breaking into an Apple/Google-dominated market is tough work)."

I don't get it. The little bit of extra portability does not justify the loss in functionality. The ultrabook is a little bigger in size but it makes up for bigger screen and better keyboard. Battery and price seems to be in the same range. I can plug my laptop into my dock when I'm at work and pull it when I travel. You have more ports in a laptop also.Tablet is and has always been a consumer product. It can exist in the corporate world in limited scenarios.

I had an Ultrabook. The Surface Pro is far better. It's faster than my UB was, far better screen and more versatility. And I have a USB3.0 dock for it when I'm at the office, connected to a 24" monitor. It's fantastic. I really can't stress to you what an amazing device it is. And you wouldn't believe me, rightfully so I think, unless you were to use one for a week. I've had mine for two and it's awesome. Best electronic purchase I've made in years.

I originally had a Folio 13, provided by work. Not a bad device. Also tried the Spectre XT Pro. We're an HP shop for our workstations and laptops. Also a good unit. The Surface Pro outperforms both despite having very similar specs. I really think the SSD in the Surface Pro is quite a bit better quality and faster. Those two also had 720p screens at 13" whereas this has a 1080p screen at 10.6". So substantially better quality there. It's also brighter.

I'm not saying it is better than all Ultrabooks. But I'm saying it's better than the two I've used, which both cost the same. I do think the Samsung units that are out there are probably stronger, but even those are 1600x900 screens, so still lower quality screens.

Two other engineers have purchased Surface Pros since I bought mine they were so impressed. For someone working in a closet on a Nexus 7000 switch it's unbeatable. Is it good for virtualization? No, but neither were the Ultrabooks. We did place an order today for the Elitebook Folios with 8GB of memory and Core i7s. But those are $1700. Pretty big difference.

Belard is just a moron who regularly posts funny and stupid lies about Windows 8 etc, he would say there were no reviews of Windows 8 and so on. He's either mentally ill or more likely he's just an astroturfer in Google or Apple payroll. Or maybe even both.

I got Surface Pro too, must admit overall it's much much better device than RT, but until there's Haswell with more slim, thin and light chassis and much longer battery life - appeal of Surface Pros will be limited.

The real killa device oughtta be the new Surface they may produce with Bay Trail, this one should marry benefits of frugal ARM chips in iPad with Windows universality and number one software ecosystem.

Can't wait for Belard to post some more lunacy about that new upcoming Bay Trail based Surface. I'm sure his anal master Sergey Brin (or Cook? Is Timmy having you Belard huh? share your hot experiences with us man! :P) is writing him check right now as I'm typing this :)))

I was tempted to wait for the second gen Surface tablets because of Haswell. But my wife got me this one for our anniversary. Well, said I could get it. I absolutely love it. I get it's not a device for everyone.

Battery life isn't that important to me. Functionality is. I keep an extra charger at my desk and one that stays in my bag. I just think more people would like it if they gave it a chance. The price is higher than an iPad but it is the first true convergence device that is a good fit for what I need. And for a lot of people. And considering it can replace my iPad (yes I have one) and my Ultrabook it's a fantastic device for me.

They're looking at the long term, and I think they've made very close to optimal decisions. They could have handled the transition a little smoother with the start page, and their smartphone presence should have arrived sooner, but these are small potatoes in the long run.

Whatever... porky.I had thought win8/metro would be a success... the concept seemed valid. but it doesn't in real life for most people. worse yet, Microsoft has decided to shove it up everyone's ass. they kind of have to in order to survive since more And more people realize they DONT NEED MICROSOFT anymore.